HAVASUPAI

While I was hiking in, I wondered a lot about how the Havasupai people felt about the increasing tourism in their village and soon enough, I bumped into Mana "Lorin" Manajaka who told me a bit more about his history. He says that unfortunately, we all have to bend to the "mighty dollar" and he feels sad that parts of his culture and language have been appropriated, but blessed that the spirit still watches over him. When he was little, he climbed up really high and sprawled his name out on the stone in hopes of somehow being remembered beyond the canyon walls. Now, he understands that there is a much bigger world out there, so when he prays, he prays for the people of not only Supai, but of Africa, South America, etc. He said that if I share his story, I have to be sure to tell ya'll that that's not his house! "Tell them it's a sweat-lodge: a place for spiritual worship" and that he's still finishing his gourd/stick, which you see at the ground beside him.